Magic up in Indiana, down at home.
Sunday, 23. November 2008
Let’s get to the Pacers game. The Magic pulled out a great road win against an Indiana team that plays much better at home. Orlando was led by Dwight Howard who had 24/17 and swatted 5 shots. Howard blocked a possible game winner at the end of the fourth and a game tyer in overtime. Howard had five more blocks to extend his league lead and stayed out of foul trouble against the Pacers big three of Ford, Granger and Daniels. Rashard Lewis chipped in with 23 points and 6 steals and Jameer Nelson had 22 points and 9 assists to lead the Magic to a 100-98 win. Hedo was awful with 3 points on 1 of 13 shooting and we found out that he had the flu and would miss Saturday’s game for that reason. Hedo always looks sick as he’s naturally ugly so it was hard to tell on Friday that he was sick and left me wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Glad there was an explanation for that performance.
Last night the Rockets came to town, along with former Magic great Tracy McGrady, and issued the Magic a tough home loss. T-Mac wasn’t great but the Rockets spread the ball around nicely and Yao Ming took advantage of Dwight Howard again getting himself in early foul trouble. Not making excuses here, but this would’ve been a completely different outcome had Turkoglu been able to play. His presence would’ve opened things up more for Pietrus and Lewis from the outside. The Rockets spent the evening pounding the paint against the smaller lineup the Magic had to put out in Turk’s absence and the rest is history. JJ Reddick had 13 off the bench and Jameer Nelson had his fourth 20+ point performance in five games. Howard needs to find a better way to get his blocks without getting into foul trouble and Rashard Lewis still needs to learn that he’s big enough to play inside the three point line. Lewis shot 5 of 12 from outside the arc and 1 of 9 from inside. Huh?! How can he be the presence the Magic need when he’s spending way too much time so far away from the hoop? The Magic are 9-4 now and have four games left this month to build some momentum going into the tough December ahead.
